Now I will admit that I have done this. I have absolutely, without a doubt done this before. I'm sure most people have, so let's get that out of the way right now. This doesn't make it okay, of course, it just means it's overused to the point of being considered normal.

Admittedly, I like "My girls <3" or "THIS GIRL" (referring to yourself) or "Hey girlllllll!" with a hair flipping emoji. And I do use those phrases, so maybe this is hypocritical of me to even talk about. But in my opinion it is different when you're referring to a large group of women, often a group that you do not have a strong preexisting relationship with.

When I realized how much language is engrained in our culture and how much language can affect our experience of the world, this particular use has stuck out to me and I find it really grating.

TRUTH BOMB COMING UP HERE...

Christopher and I watch The Bachelor. Like, we DVR it and it goes on high priority on our list of shows. Mostly it's fun to notice the ridiculous editing and try to figure out how the music/shots/cuts/etc are trying to manipulate us as viewers, but it's also just kinda silly and sweet.

But MAN does that show love to call adult women 'girls.'

"I've never dated 12 girls at once before."
"It was so hard to not give her a rose - she's a great girl."
"I can't believe how much fun the girls were on the group date!"

The men on this show (yes, plural, because Chris Harrison counts too) are way too often using language that refers to grown women as female children.

Why in the world is that not deemed bizarre at this point? We do not refer to grown men as "boys" on a regular basis. Yes, I have heard it done, but for the most part it seems to be in jest or in a "teasing" manner, whereas "girls" seems to just be an acceptable way to refer to a group of women.

There are SO MANY other options here.

Women. Ladies. PEOPLE.

Honestly anything that doesn't refer to these grown women that, in this example, YOU ARE DATING FOR GOODNESS SAKE, as adolescent children!

(And before you get on my case here, I do in fact know that sometimes "girl" is used to describe an unmarried woman of any age, but honestly --- does that make it better or worse?! An adult female isn't referred to as an adult female until she is MARRIED?! Come on, ya'll, what year is this?!)